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ASCL News

• April 2013 additions to the ASCL

  Twenty-one codes were added to the ASCL in April:

  Astropy: Community Python library for astronomy
  Copter: Cosmological perturbation theory
  CosmicEmuLog: Cosmological Power Spectra Emulator
  CosmoRec: Cosmological Recombination code
  DESPOTIC: Derive the Energetics and SPectra of Optically Thick Interstellar Clouds

  Diffusion.f: Diffusion of elements in stars
  GALSVM: Automated Morphology Classification
  IFrIT: Ionization FRont Interactive Tool
  MPgrafic: A parallel MPI version of Grafic-1
  ORIGAMI: Structure-finding routine in N-body simulation

  PEC: Period Error Calculator
  pyCloudy: Tools to manage astronomical Cloudy photoionization code
  PyNeb: Analysis of emission lines
  Qhull: Quickhull algorithm for computing the convex hull
  Sérsic: Exact deprojection of Sérsic surface brightness profiles

  SFH: Star Formation History
  SZpack: Computation of Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) signals
  TPZ: Trees for Photo-Z
  TVD: Total Variation Diminishing code
  VOBOZ/ZOBOV: Halo-finding and Void-finding algorithms

  Wqed: Lightcurve Analysis Suite

  This entry was posted in code additions, codes, news on May 1, 2013 by Alice Allen.
• March 2013 additions to the ASCL

  Thirty codes were added to the ASCL in March:

  2MASS Kit: 2MASS Catalog Server Kit
  ACORNS-ADI: Algorithms for Calibration, Optimized Registration and Nulling the Star in Angular Differential Imaging
  ATLAS12: Opacity sampling model atmosphere program
  BSE: Binary Star Evolution
  CADRE: CArma Data REduction pipeline

  CosmoHammer: Cosmological parameter estimation with the MCMC Hammer
  DPUSER: Interactive language for image analysis
  emcee: The MCMC Hammer
  Galactus: Modeling and fitting of galaxies from neutral hydrogen (HI) cubes
  GaPP: Gaussian Processes in Python

  GBTIDL: Reduction and Analysis of GBT Spectral Line Data
  Ginga: Flexible FITS viewer
  idistort: CMB spectral distortions templates and code
  ionFR: Ionospheric Faraday rotation
  iSAP: Interactive Sparse Astronomical Data Analysis Packages

  MAGIX: Modeling and Analysis Generic Interface for eXternal numerical codes
  micrOMEGAs: Calculation of dark matter properties
  MOPSIC: Extended Version of MOPSI
  pysynphot: Synthetic photometry software package
  SMMOL: Spherical Multi-level MOLecular line radiative transfer

  SSE: Single Star Evolution
  Stellarics: Inverse Compton scattering from stellar heliospheres
  Sunrise: Radiation transfer through interstellar dust
  SWIFT: A solar system integration software package
  TAC-maker: Transit Analytical Curve maker

  TGCat: Chandra Transmission Grating Catalog and Archive
  TYCHO: Stellar evolution code
  UCL_CHEM: time and depth dependent gas-grain chemical model
  UCL_PDR: Time dependent photon-dissociation regions model
  Xmatch: GPU Enhanced Astronomic Catalog Cross-Matching

  This entry was posted in code additions, codes on May 1, 2013 by Alice Allen.
• Finding codes and Russian nesting dolls

  As those familiar with the ASCL know, those working on it take an active approach to sharing astrophysical source code, ferreting out codes, looking for their download sites, and creating entries for them in the ASCL. We welcome and indeed (enthusiastically!) encourage code authors to create entries for their codes, but most of the indexing of codes is currently done by ASCL associate editor Kim DuPrie and me.

  I regularly read through pre-prints looking for mention of codes not yet indexed by the ASCL; Advisory Committee Chairman Peter Teuben does the same. He has access to publications I cannot get to, such as MNRAS, and looks there for codes as well. A paper may yield a code new to the ASCL, and sometimes, a paper will reveal what Peter and I refer to as Russian dolls: the deeper we get into a paper, the more codes it reveals. One paper he sent to me recently revealed 37 (!) codes, only 5 of which the ASCL had indexed. Thirty-two new codes to try to find!

  Other times, a paper will mention two or three or more codes which lead us to other papers which mention yet more codes, which lead us to papers which mention even more codes... and though the ASCL indexes over 600 codes, there are still hundreds, probably thousands, out there it hasn't indexed, so some of these more more MORE codes that we come across also need to be found. Like Russian nesting dolls, the codes go on and on and on.

  It's times like that -- finding 32 new codes in just one paper! peeling back layers and layers of new codes! -- I wish I could work on the ASCL full-time. Well, also the times I look at the list we'd already compiled (a list I stopped adding to over a year ago) of ~ 200 codes to find. Also the times I look at the list of things still to be done for/on/about the ASCL beyond indexing new codes.

  So many codes, so little time to spend on them, alas!

  This entry was posted in codes, people on April 8, 2013 by Alice Allen.
• Where do they come from? ASCL pageviews by country

  Idly browsing through Google Analytics statistics on the ASCL, I pulled out pageviews by country, these just of the ASCL forum on Asterisk for this month so far. Of the 4,843 pageviews, 1,939 (40%) are from the US, which means of course that 60% are not. People from eighty-three countries have accessed the code entries forum; I've tagged the pie slices below of the ten countries with at least 2% of the total pageviews. Click on the pie to see the chart at full size.

  

   

  This entry was posted in codes, news, stats on March 22, 2013 by Alice Allen.
• 600!

  Yay!

  That is all.

  This entry was posted in codes, news, stats on March 17, 2013 by Alice Allen.
• Updated codes

  Gyula Józsa has been updating TiRiFiC and fixing minor bugs, and has added features and made the code standalone software, no longer requiring GIPSY; instead, input files are in FITS format now. You can be alerted to updates by subscribing to the TiRiFiC thread on the ASCL.

  Peter Teuben reported on the ASCL that an updated version of ZEUS-MP (V1.5) has been made public by the U.Maryland group. Please find the updated version here: http://www.netpurgatory.com/zeusmp.html

  He also provided an additional download site for new code GRID-core.

  If you would like to receive an email whenever a new post is made on the ASCL forum which houses the code entries, instructions for subscribing to the forum are available.

  This entry was posted in codes, news on March 9, 2013 by Alice Allen.
• February 2013 additions to the ASCL

  Seventeen codes were added to the ASCL in February:

  ACS: ALMA Common Software
  DisPerSE: Discrete Persistent Structures Extractor
  EPICS: Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System
  ESO-MIDAS: General tools for image processing and data reduction
  FASTPHOT: A simple and quick IDL PSF-fitting routine

  GALA: Stellar atmospheric parameters and chemical abundances
  GRID-core: Gravitational Potential Identification of Cores
  IAS Stacking Library in IDL
  ICORE: Image Co-addition with Optional Resolution Enhancement
  ISIS: Interactive Spectral Interpretation System for High Resolution X-Ray Spectroscopy

  MARX: Model of AXAF Response to X-rays
  ME(SSY)**2: Monte Carlo Code for Star Cluster Simulations
  Minerva: Cylindrical coordinate extension for Athena
  NIFTY: A versatile Python library for signal inference
  pNbody: A python parallelized N-body reduction toolbox

  SYNMAG Photometry: Catalog-level Matched Colors of Extended Sources
  XDQSO: Photometic quasar probabilities and redshifts

  We also added CSCview: A Graphical User Interface to the Chandra Source Catalog to our web tools page, and pyro: hydro by example — A simple python-based tutorial on computational methods for hydrodynamics to our list of online resources. As of February 28, there were 585 codes in the ASCL.

  This entry was posted in code additions, codes, news on March 1, 2013 by Alice Allen.
• A PDF of the splinter meeting slides are now available.

  They are here.

  This entry was posted in AAS, codes, conferences, discussion, special sessions on January 11, 2013 by Alice Allen.
• Omar Laurino joins panel for AAS splinter meeting "Astrophysics Code Sharing?"

  Omar Laurino (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics) has joined the panel for the ASCL-sponsored splinter meeting "Astrophysics Code Sharing?" at the upcoming AAS meeting in Long Beach. The topic of his short presentation is What do we want to accomplish?

  Session date/time/location:
  Wednesday, January 9
  2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
  Regency Ballroom D (Downtown Hyatt Long Beach)

  Peter Teuben (Astronomy Department, UMD) will discuss the results of sessions on code release and discoverability from earlier conferences; he will also moderate the discussion. Robert Hanisch (STScI/VAO) will talk on Integrity in the publication process and Bruce Berriman (IPAC, Caltech) will cover Code repositories in other disciplines. ASCL editor Alice Allen will share a little information about (surprise!) the ASCL. The floor will be open for discussion and sharing after the five-minute presentations. And we'll have glow-in-the-dark pencils to give away, too!

  This entry was posted in AAS, codes, conferences, discussion, news on January 2, 2013 by Alice Allen.
• A preferred reference method seems to be evolving

  Looking recently at references to code entries, I see most are in the format:

  author, year, in Astrophysics Source Code Library, record ascl ID

  For example: Barnes, J. E., 2011, Astrophysics Source Code Library, record ascl:1102.027

  Using the entire ascl ID (ascl:xxxx.xxx) in the reference enables ADS to more easily pick up the citation. It may be helpful to the reader to include the name of the code as well:

  Barnes, J. E., 2011, ZENO, Astrophysics Source Code Library, record ascl:1102.027

  The ascl ID number can be used to provide a link to a particular entry. For the example above, typing ascl.net/1102.027 into your browser brings up the entry for the code ZENO.

  This entry was posted in codes, discussion on December 14, 2012 by Alice Allen.